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Wednesday, October 23, 2013

WHITT'S END: 10.23.13

Whether you're at the end of your coffee, your day, your week or even your rope, welcome to Whitt's End:

*Told y'all to chill on the Cowboys' salary-cap panic. I know the rest of the NFL wants to think Jerry Jones is such a financially-handcuffed dufus that he won't be able to even field a team in 2014, but the way out of their perennial predicament is - once again - not all that complicated. I explain over at NBC 5's Blue Star Blog.

*I'm intrigued by the World Series. Best two fandoms in baseball, right? I've been fortunate enough to watch games in both Fenway and Busch, and those folks don't just love their baseball. They know their baseball. They live their baseball. DFW is a baseball town, sure. But Boston and St. Louis are baseball neighborhoods, much more passionate and close-knit communities of one. When a big, positive play occurs at Rangers Ballpark, the fans' nights just got better. When it happens in Fenway or Busch, those fans' lives just got better. And, for what it's worth, I don't hate either team enough to invoke Failure Jesus.

*As expected, Chris Arnold returned to 105.3 The Fan Monday after a week's suspension for plagiarism. We all make mistakes, but usually they're innocent errors. Not pre-meditated, calculated theft. We accidentally knock the lamp off the nightstand; We don't scheme to steal our neighbor's chandelier. As a writer in this market for 27 years I've been wrong on predictions or breaking news, but never have I blatantly just copy-and-pasted somebody else's work and sold it as my own. Chris' job has survived. But I don't see how his credibility does.

*I know this is weird, but the best Cowboys' offensive lineman through seven games has been Doug Free. And their best defensive back? Orlando Scandrick. I'd have lost that bet back in August. You?

*Okay, maybe there is hope for this country after all. Despite some protests from ninny parents who erect statues for the kids when they finish half their morning juice, the Keller Youth Association football league is discontinuing the embarrassing and dangerous act of participation trophies. "Life makes you earn everything you get," the group says, causing anyone who's ever been screwed over by life to stop what they're doing and give a standing ovation. (Stopping. Standing. Clapping.)

*Happy Humpdaaaay White Truck Wednesday. Was stuck in traffic on 121 in the Mid-Cities yesterday for the 19th consecutive day, and got caught behind a big you-know-what-color construction dump truck. On the back of its bed read this sign: "NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR BROKEN WINDSHIELDS!" Says who? I mean, just because you underline a word and use all caps accented by an exclamation point doesn't absolve you of spraying rocks all over the highway. Otherwise, why don't bad guys with guns just bust down a door, shoot up a joint and then walk away free men while pointing to a T-shirt that reads "Not responsible for death"? Putting that sign on that truck isn't a pro-active safety move, it's a lame attempt to cover the company's ass in the wake of lots of complaints from drivers who have driven behind it before and, sure enough, had rocks fly off it and break their windshields. That sign might as well have read "F*k You."

*An example of how Fantasy Football negatively affects the NFL: There are actually fans debating and writers actually analyzing a trade that would send Adrian Peterson to the Cowboys. Happens in Fantasy leagues all the time. Happens in the NFL none of the time.

*Been inundated by the hype (Nov. 5 I think it is) for the next Call of Duty. As a guy who stopped playing video games the day I conquered Mario Bros. back in the early '90s, I no longer have a desire to just pretend to do stuff. But I was thinking how different life would be growing up as a 9-year-old in 2013 compared to my habitat in 1973. Nowadays kids have NFL Sunday Ticket. Whereas - I swear this is true - I actually spent considerable time as a punk waiting for the rain to stop so I could go outside have a grassboat race against my friend. A what-the-what you say? A grassboat race. We each picked a big blade of St. Augustine grass as our "boat", then placed them in the gutter that ran along the curb of our street and let the swift-moving water propel them through the neighborhood. We'd monitor and chase and cheer on those suckers for hours, until one of them crossed the "finish line" of our neighborhood creek. Yeah, try that idea on your 9-year-old.

*Today? Final day of training camp at Pizza Buzz. Couple of pre-season games Thursday and Friday, then this weekend we start keeping score and playing for keeps. Don't be a stranger.

How about looking into how restructuring all those contracts could hamstring them past 2014? Will the rest of the players knowing the Cowboys are desperate for a restructuring bend Jerrah over a chair like Romo did?

That's 30 seconds of my life clicking your Blue Star Blog link that I'm never going to get back.

Rooster - since you obviously know which contracts will be restructured, and are apparently intimately familiar with the salary cap this year and beyond, why don't you write an in-depth analysis for all of us uneducated readers.

We're always interested in what the experts have to say. Maybe you and the other self proclaimed expert on this blog, Dave, can collaborate.

Otherwise the 5 seconds it took me to read your worthless comments are 5 seconds I've lost in my life and will never get back.

Anon 10:11....perhaps you would like to enlighten everyone as to why being $31M over the cap next year ($18M more the next closest franchise) is not a problem. Sure, there may be some contracts reworked just so they can field a team. And even if they can get there, what does that leave left over to tie up key players, i.e., Bryant, or being able to enter the free agent market to shore up big problem areas like the depleted D-line, which is only going to get worse?

We saw the problems this year when they had a hard time having enough room to sign draft picks and pick up even the cheapest of the cheap from the free agent scrap heap just to have warm bodies. Any way you slice it, it IS a problem and is just another reflection of a GM who hasn't a clue. Great owner, OUTSTANDING businessman, horrible GM, period.

@anon 10:11 I to made the mistake of clicking the link hoping to read some insight into how the Cowboys will escape cap hell. Man I hate to break this to you but Mr. Whitt's column is about as far from an "in-depth analysis" as there is. As a matter of fact it's a pretty laughable give up.

I agree with Rooster. He didn't proclaim to be a sportswriter and have all of the Cowboys cap worries solved like RW did. Its RW's job to do that. In regards to the "article", sure they get under the salary cap restructuring those contracts, but then what? What about filling all the holes that this team has next year? No room to add any kind of premium player for the DL.

I'm with you on the "not responsible..." signs. They piss me off. It should be illegal to deliberately misrepresent the law. Banks, apartments, car dealerships, etc. all put garbage in contracts and on signs they know is not true but that individuals usually can't afford to challenge.

With regard to that participation trophy story, I saw it on Fox news last night. There was a viewer poll, and 90% of viewers agreed that not giving out trophies was the right decision. Good to see the people are on board with this one.

I won't post URLs in your comment section, but yesterday Time had a story entitled "Obamacare Hasn't Put Americans Out of Work". You might find it an agreeable read.

Doug Free as the best O-lineman and Scandrick as the best DB thus far? Surely, you jest. Now, both have been improved over last year and not taking away anything from either of their performances thus far. Scandrick has been a pleasant surprise given Claiborne's issues and Free has had a marked improvement, and the fact that he's making half what he made last year is an added bonus. However no way Free's play has been better than Tyron Smith or even the rookie Frederick. And have you not seen Brandon Carr's play this year? Not only has he been the best DB, but an argument could be made he has been the MVP of the defense or even the team thus far. His man coverage ability has been the key to keeping the defense from a total collapse with the injuries up front.

How about watching the games instead. Are these Jerry's scouts? Seriously, Scandrick has had a great year, but has fewer tackles, fewer picks and fewer passes defended than Carr this season. Add to that that Carr has routinely been asked to provide man coverage to the opposition's biggest threat and it's an easy choice.

That's actually not a bad price.....a little less than double the going rate if you went to the store. It's just a matter of the people within the area are collectively willing to fork over that much more for their beer to have it delivered.